http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7412045.stm
My article came from BBC News and was titled "Internet key to Obama's victories". The article was actually from after the primaries but before the 2008 Presidential Election. It discussed how the internet favored the outsider as it allows for a candidate with little name-recognition to quickly raise money and mobilize supporters. When the Obama campaign started out, they had few resources and were virtually, as the article says, "starting from scratch". According to an expert, Obama's internet strategy was at the forefront of his campaign for the Democratic nomination. Coordinating volunteers by use of the internet helped make the campaign more efficient, and "stunts" such as the YouTube video "Obama girl" helped raise public awareness about Obama. Use of the internet also helped Obama raise much-needed funds which helped him outcampaign Hillary Clinton, and his local volunteers were generally first to begin campaigning in key states. Also, Obama utilized sites such as MySpace and Facebook which not only put him on the map for younger voters, but it also enabled him to show the public the level of support he already had. Lastly, he used information gathered by commercial data in order to determine which voters might be more likely to sway which way. Obviously, his online campaigning worked as he managed to whip the American youth up into a frenzy to vote. I would credit a lot of his win to raising money online and staying visible through Facebook and YouTube. Of course, being 25 years younger than your opponent rarely hurts.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Online Donation of More than $500M
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html
The article I read discussed how a gigantic chunk of President-Elect Obama's campaign financing came from online donations. The most interesting part to me was that the average donation was close to $80 and that most people donated more than once. I think when someone can raise money in the way Obama did, with over 3 million people donating small portions on multiple occasions, campaign finance isn't really an issue at all - if anything, it's a reflection of the masses and their willingness to support their candidate, which is what the election is about in general. It's not so incredible that Obama was able to raise as much as he did, campaign donations usually get pretty immense as election looms but the fact that so much of it was done online, by private citizens, in small doses I think says a lot about who Obama was speaking for, and that these same people chose to speak for him as well. It's tough to imagine Obama coming close to winning without the 500M raised on the Internet, and although I'm sure he would've received a portion of that money if not for Internet donations via people donating in other forms I don't think that amount would've been nearly as high. Obama was everywhere, I even saw Obama advertisements on video games which I believe is a first in President campaigning. It's tough to say whether or not he would've been able to still win without the 500M raised on the Internet, but I think the race would've been a lot closer had he not been able to campaign and advertise himself as much as he was able to with this money.
The article I read discussed how a gigantic chunk of President-Elect Obama's campaign financing came from online donations. The most interesting part to me was that the average donation was close to $80 and that most people donated more than once. I think when someone can raise money in the way Obama did, with over 3 million people donating small portions on multiple occasions, campaign finance isn't really an issue at all - if anything, it's a reflection of the masses and their willingness to support their candidate, which is what the election is about in general. It's not so incredible that Obama was able to raise as much as he did, campaign donations usually get pretty immense as election looms but the fact that so much of it was done online, by private citizens, in small doses I think says a lot about who Obama was speaking for, and that these same people chose to speak for him as well. It's tough to imagine Obama coming close to winning without the 500M raised on the Internet, and although I'm sure he would've received a portion of that money if not for Internet donations via people donating in other forms I don't think that amount would've been nearly as high. Obama was everywhere, I even saw Obama advertisements on video games which I believe is a first in President campaigning. It's tough to say whether or not he would've been able to still win without the 500M raised on the Internet, but I think the race would've been a lot closer had he not been able to campaign and advertise himself as much as he was able to with this money.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Sharing my story- extra credit
The story I posted on the Obama website had to do with technology and the importance it can have in politics. I also talked about how the internet can serve as an important mean of communication between citizens and politicians.
Here is the beginning few sentences of my "story": "First of all, I think it's a great idea that citizens are given the opportunity to share their ideas in such an available way- the internet. I could go on explaining what I think about different political controversies (such as the war in Iraq or Health Care), but this would not be my expertise. Instead, I would like to stress the importance of citizen involvement in our country's current and future policies. Through the internet, I believe the citizens of the country will be more likely to share their opinions, because of the convenience of the internet"
Did Media Win Obama the Presidency?
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance/2
I read an article that was published in the Atlantic entitled the Amazing Money Machine. This article took an interesting perspective on how new media and fundraising were tied together in an innovative model that not only was the halmark of the Obama campaign, but also, catapulted Obama to President.
One idea was how the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Act worked in favor of Obama's fundraising strategies. Because of traditional democrat reliance on big checks, it was assumed that soft money limits would hurt democrats, but the $2300 limit on personal checks did little to stop Obama. Obama utilized technology in order to recruit people from all walks of life to give a little. Not only employing text messaging and email, Obama benefited from ties to the Silicon Valley. As the corporate powers and the wealth of the Silicon Valley organized their political donations and fundraisers, they were inspired by Barack Obama, and they were enthralled by strides made in e-campaigning and fundraising that marked the Dean and Kerry campaigns in 2003-2004. With the next wave in the Silicon Valley of innovation being social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, Obama and his advisers were quick to see the value in these technologies, and Silicon Valley supporters were quick to use their entrepreneurial skills to actively recruit donations by rallying people in a digital context. Obama successfully inaugurated a new method of campaign financing, raising 94 percent of his funding through the contributions of $200 or less. Because of Obama's rallying power and his e-fundraising that garnered many small donations, Obama far surpassed both Hillary Clinton and John McCain while also involving more people in the fundraising scheme, citing over a million donors, and thus, creating an idea of broad democratic support among all 50 states, win or lose, a basis for his mantra to unite the entire country in positive change.
Not only did Obama's e-fundraising prove to be revolutionary, but his overall ability to rally people and bring them to action through the internet was astounding. Having the founder of Facebook as his director of new media, Obama relied on a innovative approach of mass outreach through the virtual world. Facebook groups were an early innovation along with multimedia such as ringtones and text messages to not only bombard people with Obama's message, but also, serve as a host GOTV activities. People could easily find sites that allowed them to phonebank for Obama. People who met on a discussion board felt engaged in the Obama campaign and connected to Obama as a candidate, and if one heard an Obama ringtone when Mom called, they just might remember to remind mom of how important it is for her to get out and vote.
As many pundets point out, it shouldn't have been Barack, and it very well might not have been if Hillary wasn't so slow to adopt innovative media in her campaign style, but the way I see it both Clinton and McCain were blindsighted by the immense value the Obama camp derived from its new media endeavours. By the time Hillary was playing catch-up, her campaign was in debt, and she had little resources to brand herself and get her name out their on the web. McCain was also cash strapped after he accepted public financing, and thus, once he started to embrace the online campaign style that Obama mastered, McCain couldn't create much of a brand or online pressence to attract donors and self-perpetuated fundraising and forums of support that were born from Obama's impressive brand that attracted many to his online discussions, profiles, and fundraising portals.
In my opinion, Obama's branding and internet prowess only solidified his lead in the general election, for McCain was a failure from the start. Obama successfully branded McCain as more of George Bush's failed policies, and McCain's inability to attack back, his quite demeanor and his desire to simply stick to his beliefs and stay out of the forray of slander and mudslinging did him in when he faced the fiesty and determined Barack Obama. John McCain undoubtedly had enough evidence to tarnish Obama's image; if McCain could have exploited Ayers, Wright, and the fact that Obama was only a two year senator when he began his White House bid in the same way that Obama pimped the war and George Bush to taint McCain's image, I believe people would have been less apt to rally behind Obama. Unfortunately, McCain is too issues oriented and good hearted to play at Obama's game, and once Obama successfully branded McCain as George Bush III and rallied massive numbers of people behind this assumption through both conventional and online techniques there was no turning back. Furthermore, Obama's brand recognition was almost a function of his historic nature as black man running in the general election, and the news media loved it. The media made him their darling, and thus, the McCain-Palin ticket was slighted.
I read an article that was published in the Atlantic entitled the Amazing Money Machine. This article took an interesting perspective on how new media and fundraising were tied together in an innovative model that not only was the halmark of the Obama campaign, but also, catapulted Obama to President.
One idea was how the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Act worked in favor of Obama's fundraising strategies. Because of traditional democrat reliance on big checks, it was assumed that soft money limits would hurt democrats, but the $2300 limit on personal checks did little to stop Obama. Obama utilized technology in order to recruit people from all walks of life to give a little. Not only employing text messaging and email, Obama benefited from ties to the Silicon Valley. As the corporate powers and the wealth of the Silicon Valley organized their political donations and fundraisers, they were inspired by Barack Obama, and they were enthralled by strides made in e-campaigning and fundraising that marked the Dean and Kerry campaigns in 2003-2004. With the next wave in the Silicon Valley of innovation being social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, Obama and his advisers were quick to see the value in these technologies, and Silicon Valley supporters were quick to use their entrepreneurial skills to actively recruit donations by rallying people in a digital context. Obama successfully inaugurated a new method of campaign financing, raising 94 percent of his funding through the contributions of $200 or less. Because of Obama's rallying power and his e-fundraising that garnered many small donations, Obama far surpassed both Hillary Clinton and John McCain while also involving more people in the fundraising scheme, citing over a million donors, and thus, creating an idea of broad democratic support among all 50 states, win or lose, a basis for his mantra to unite the entire country in positive change.
Not only did Obama's e-fundraising prove to be revolutionary, but his overall ability to rally people and bring them to action through the internet was astounding. Having the founder of Facebook as his director of new media, Obama relied on a innovative approach of mass outreach through the virtual world. Facebook groups were an early innovation along with multimedia such as ringtones and text messages to not only bombard people with Obama's message, but also, serve as a host GOTV activities. People could easily find sites that allowed them to phonebank for Obama. People who met on a discussion board felt engaged in the Obama campaign and connected to Obama as a candidate, and if one heard an Obama ringtone when Mom called, they just might remember to remind mom of how important it is for her to get out and vote.
As many pundets point out, it shouldn't have been Barack, and it very well might not have been if Hillary wasn't so slow to adopt innovative media in her campaign style, but the way I see it both Clinton and McCain were blindsighted by the immense value the Obama camp derived from its new media endeavours. By the time Hillary was playing catch-up, her campaign was in debt, and she had little resources to brand herself and get her name out their on the web. McCain was also cash strapped after he accepted public financing, and thus, once he started to embrace the online campaign style that Obama mastered, McCain couldn't create much of a brand or online pressence to attract donors and self-perpetuated fundraising and forums of support that were born from Obama's impressive brand that attracted many to his online discussions, profiles, and fundraising portals.
In my opinion, Obama's branding and internet prowess only solidified his lead in the general election, for McCain was a failure from the start. Obama successfully branded McCain as more of George Bush's failed policies, and McCain's inability to attack back, his quite demeanor and his desire to simply stick to his beliefs and stay out of the forray of slander and mudslinging did him in when he faced the fiesty and determined Barack Obama. John McCain undoubtedly had enough evidence to tarnish Obama's image; if McCain could have exploited Ayers, Wright, and the fact that Obama was only a two year senator when he began his White House bid in the same way that Obama pimped the war and George Bush to taint McCain's image, I believe people would have been less apt to rally behind Obama. Unfortunately, McCain is too issues oriented and good hearted to play at Obama's game, and once Obama successfully branded McCain as George Bush III and rallied massive numbers of people behind this assumption through both conventional and online techniques there was no turning back. Furthermore, Obama's brand recognition was almost a function of his historic nature as black man running in the general election, and the news media loved it. The media made him their darling, and thus, the McCain-Palin ticket was slighted.
Obama and Technology
My articlem from the New York Times, was aptly titled "How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics" .
(http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/?scp=10&sq=obama%20campaign%20&st=cse)
The article starts off with a quote that symbolizes many peoples thoughts on the whole issue, from Arianna Huffington, the editor in chief of The Huffington Post, stating "Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee." This is a powerful thing to say about someone who has just achieved what is considered to be the most important job in the entire world, but it just speaks to the immense amount of stock that Obama placed in the burgeoning ability of technology to bring people together, in this case really rallying around his brand. In hand with Obama's branding goes with the fact that he stressed so much that this was the most important election in recent time. President - elect Obama built on this by using technology in a way that was crafty and in turn showed that he was in touch with the younger generation - a strategy that worked well with the guy, younger voting block. As the article denotes, and we discussed in section, this group of younger voters, such as us college students, really identified with these tactics, and really paid attention to the campaign as a result.
(http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/?scp=10&sq=obama%20campaign%20&st=cse)
The article starts off with a quote that symbolizes many peoples thoughts on the whole issue, from Arianna Huffington, the editor in chief of The Huffington Post, stating "Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee." This is a powerful thing to say about someone who has just achieved what is considered to be the most important job in the entire world, but it just speaks to the immense amount of stock that Obama placed in the burgeoning ability of technology to bring people together, in this case really rallying around his brand. In hand with Obama's branding goes with the fact that he stressed so much that this was the most important election in recent time. President - elect Obama built on this by using technology in a way that was crafty and in turn showed that he was in touch with the younger generation - a strategy that worked well with the guy, younger voting block. As the article denotes, and we discussed in section, this group of younger voters, such as us college students, really identified with these tactics, and really paid attention to the campaign as a result.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Week 14 Online Lecture- Online Campaign
For this week's online lecture, I chose to analyze the website http://guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/07/barackobama-uselections2008. This site talked about the online strategies Obama used and why his strategies were so helpful.
For one, this website talks about the little cost involved in online campaigning, especially compared to television advertising. Also, this article states that a higher percentage of people view the internet for political reasons than they would view the television (46% compared to 35%). So by campaigning online, Obama actually saved money and had a greater audience.
Also, the strategies Obama used were very well thought out. Obama mostly received small donations from a number of people/organizations online which enhanced his popularity and publicity. He also started campaigning early on in the election; even before the primaries which could have contributed to why he won over Hillary Clinton.
Obama also appealed to a younger crowd because he created his own facebook page and constantly kept it running. In comparison, McCain never even created a facebook account. The fact that Obama has a facebook is a little startling to me actually. It seems as though the politics of our nation is not as "professional".
Overall, I agree with this article. It is hard to say how much online campaigning contributed to Obama's win over McCain, but I believe it is significant. As the article said, Obama had 2 million supporters on facebook, where as McCain had 600,000. Because technology is so important to todays society, online support does make a difference.
Week 14 Online Lecture
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212000815
This article is entitled, "Obama Election Ushering in First Internet Presidency," by Mitch Wagner.
The main point of this article is that Obama has not only transformed politics through the internet and technologies, but he could have more influence than ever in the government. Wagner argues that this election marks the end of the "television presidency," which started with JFK, and the beginnning of a new "internet presidency." The article quotes a political consultant who believes there is no doubt that "communication through Youtube and other social networks put him over the top." The campaign's own networking site, MyBarackObama, was also crucial with tools such as the Neighbor to Neighbor application. Obama was able to build the largest network of supporters by using combination of communication and information technologies to recruit and develop relationships with volunteers and supporters.
The auther also believes that this network will increase presidential power. For example, if certain members of Congress prevent him from passing a bill, he can reach out to this network and highlight this opposition - a position that no member of Congress would want to be in.
I agree with most of the arguments in this article. I think the Obama campaign was the first campaign to exploit the full potential of the newest Internet capabilities. MyBarackObama provided convenient information to Obama campaign events. The online applications even allowed people with disabilities to get involved. Lets not forget that Obama was not only the anti-establishment candidate during the general election, but also in the primaries. I believe Obama's victory over Clinton was actually a bigger political victory - the only way Obama gained the enough visibility during 2007 was by effectively implementing information technologies.
I also think this use of technology could extend into Obama's presidency - this would clearly earn the title of "First Internet Presidency." However, I do not believe Obama would try to highlight specific members of Congress who oppose him - just so he can gain support for his ideas. Obama welcomes ideas that challenge his ideas (already evidenced in Cabinet appointments) and seeks to find common ground with opposition. I'm unsure if Obama will use information technology to become more powerful, but I do believe he will use it to increase the transparency in government (already evidenced by constant updates about his transition team).
This article is entitled, "Obama Election Ushering in First Internet Presidency," by Mitch Wagner.
The main point of this article is that Obama has not only transformed politics through the internet and technologies, but he could have more influence than ever in the government. Wagner argues that this election marks the end of the "television presidency," which started with JFK, and the beginnning of a new "internet presidency." The article quotes a political consultant who believes there is no doubt that "communication through Youtube and other social networks put him over the top." The campaign's own networking site, MyBarackObama, was also crucial with tools such as the Neighbor to Neighbor application. Obama was able to build the largest network of supporters by using combination of communication and information technologies to recruit and develop relationships with volunteers and supporters.
The auther also believes that this network will increase presidential power. For example, if certain members of Congress prevent him from passing a bill, he can reach out to this network and highlight this opposition - a position that no member of Congress would want to be in.
I agree with most of the arguments in this article. I think the Obama campaign was the first campaign to exploit the full potential of the newest Internet capabilities. MyBarackObama provided convenient information to Obama campaign events. The online applications even allowed people with disabilities to get involved. Lets not forget that Obama was not only the anti-establishment candidate during the general election, but also in the primaries. I believe Obama's victory over Clinton was actually a bigger political victory - the only way Obama gained the enough visibility during 2007 was by effectively implementing information technologies.
I also think this use of technology could extend into Obama's presidency - this would clearly earn the title of "First Internet Presidency." However, I do not believe Obama would try to highlight specific members of Congress who oppose him - just so he can gain support for his ideas. Obama welcomes ideas that challenge his ideas (already evidenced in Cabinet appointments) and seeks to find common ground with opposition. I'm unsure if Obama will use information technology to become more powerful, but I do believe he will use it to increase the transparency in government (already evidenced by constant updates about his transition team).
Why Obama Won
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7704360.stm
This article broke down Obama's victory in the election into the four main elements: volunteers/fundraising, operation, being "Anti-Bush", and his message of change. Hiring Facebook's Chris Hughes to devise his online fundraising system, Obama was able to afford four times more campaign offices as McCain and TV advertising not only in swing states, but traditionall red states as well. The operation of the campaign is lauded for its online advertising, video game advertising, and their GOTV success in Florida and other swing states, which lead to record turnouts in early voting. The article does make a point of saying that none of this matters if Obama wasn't such an appealing candidate who is an excellent speaker. Setting himself up as the "Anti-Bush" candidate let Obama campaign on the statistics that 9 out of 10 Americans felt the country was on the wrong track and that McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time in the Senate. This sort of combines with the last point that the article makes, which is that Obama represented change with his ideas on foreign policy and the economy.
While I felt this was a good breakdown of Obama's successful campaign, I feel that Obama's victory can be attributed mostly to the current political climate. His online campaigning and GOTV operations were indeed innovative and impressive, but all it really came down to was the last two points that the article made about representing change. The "independents", which make up about half the country, always decide the election, and this time around voting for another Republican who couldn't put enough space between himself and the sitting president proved fatal for McCain. By the middle of September, everyone was aware of the economic crisis, and that's when Obama started pulling ahead in the state and national polls. From an operational perspective, he was able to put his money into states like Indiana and Virginia after he felt comfortable enough in states like Ohio and Michigan. The reason he was probably safe in those swing states early on in the campaign was that he fought his toughest battle in the primary against Clinton. All things considered, t's hard to tell if the advertising and volunteering really matters when you represent change from a president with as low of approval ratings as Bush has.
This article broke down Obama's victory in the election into the four main elements: volunteers/fundraising, operation, being "Anti-Bush", and his message of change. Hiring Facebook's Chris Hughes to devise his online fundraising system, Obama was able to afford four times more campaign offices as McCain and TV advertising not only in swing states, but traditionall red states as well. The operation of the campaign is lauded for its online advertising, video game advertising, and their GOTV success in Florida and other swing states, which lead to record turnouts in early voting. The article does make a point of saying that none of this matters if Obama wasn't such an appealing candidate who is an excellent speaker. Setting himself up as the "Anti-Bush" candidate let Obama campaign on the statistics that 9 out of 10 Americans felt the country was on the wrong track and that McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time in the Senate. This sort of combines with the last point that the article makes, which is that Obama represented change with his ideas on foreign policy and the economy.
While I felt this was a good breakdown of Obama's successful campaign, I feel that Obama's victory can be attributed mostly to the current political climate. His online campaigning and GOTV operations were indeed innovative and impressive, but all it really came down to was the last two points that the article made about representing change. The "independents", which make up about half the country, always decide the election, and this time around voting for another Republican who couldn't put enough space between himself and the sitting president proved fatal for McCain. By the middle of September, everyone was aware of the economic crisis, and that's when Obama started pulling ahead in the state and national polls. From an operational perspective, he was able to put his money into states like Indiana and Virginia after he felt comfortable enough in states like Ohio and Michigan. The reason he was probably safe in those swing states early on in the campaign was that he fought his toughest battle in the primary against Clinton. All things considered, t's hard to tell if the advertising and volunteering really matters when you represent change from a president with as low of approval ratings as Bush has.
Week 14 online lecture
I found two different articles talking about President-elect Barrak Obama's win in the 2008 election, one from the economist (http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12566893) and one from Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/170347/page/2). The Economist breaks down the election in many ways, including income and ethnicity, and has a lot to say about the ideals that President-elect Obama stood for. They also talk about why many different groups of people voted for Mr. Obama and also where they lived. The Economist article takes a very analytical view about this election. They at no point, however, mentioned his huge success on-line.
The Newsweek article is pretty much exactly the opposite. All of the article is based on looking at how the President-elect ran much of his campaign on-line and how he hopes to continue running his government with an interest in technology. He hopes to use this technology, the internet specifically, to increase both the efficiency of his government and the amount of input his citizens can have. The article is named President 2.0 in order to show just how different they feel the next President will be.
There is not much to agree or disagree with in the economist article. In the Newsweek article, however, I did have an opinion. I felt that despite how confident they were that the President-elect would be way different than any past leaders, I really don't think that he will use the internet as much as they claim he will. Our government is set up to not run on this kind of technology, and I feel it will be one of the last organizations to change over to being on-line. Despite this fact, I think Mr. Obama will do a great deal more than any past president has done in moving the government on-line.
The Newsweek article is pretty much exactly the opposite. All of the article is based on looking at how the President-elect ran much of his campaign on-line and how he hopes to continue running his government with an interest in technology. He hopes to use this technology, the internet specifically, to increase both the efficiency of his government and the amount of input his citizens can have. The article is named President 2.0 in order to show just how different they feel the next President will be.
There is not much to agree or disagree with in the economist article. In the Newsweek article, however, I did have an opinion. I felt that despite how confident they were that the President-elect would be way different than any past leaders, I really don't think that he will use the internet as much as they claim he will. Our government is set up to not run on this kind of technology, and I feel it will be one of the last organizations to change over to being on-line. Despite this fact, I think Mr. Obama will do a great deal more than any past president has done in moving the government on-line.
Obama's Win
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html
This article talked about how Obama's win was attributed to the amount of donors they were able to get online and also the amount of volunteers that they were able to recruit online. It talked about 4 different ways that they believed technology was directly related to his success. 1) his email list that had 13 million addresses on it. Myself included in that, I think that it really did get out the message that he wanted to portray. Their were updates that were written as though they were actually from Obama(i have doubt that they were) but updating people about where the Obama Campaign was strong and what they were lacking and where they needed help. 2) the test message program that Obama set up which also informed people directly to their phone. 3)mybarackobama.com which created and spread the word of many offline events and 4)social networks such as facebook that gave him a lot of support from students. This was all huge. He was able to tap into groups of people that would have other wise not necessarily been following the election as much. It was convient and easy to access for everyone and that was why it was so successful.
This article talked about how Obama's win was attributed to the amount of donors they were able to get online and also the amount of volunteers that they were able to recruit online. It talked about 4 different ways that they believed technology was directly related to his success. 1) his email list that had 13 million addresses on it. Myself included in that, I think that it really did get out the message that he wanted to portray. Their were updates that were written as though they were actually from Obama(i have doubt that they were) but updating people about where the Obama Campaign was strong and what they were lacking and where they needed help. 2) the test message program that Obama set up which also informed people directly to their phone. 3)mybarackobama.com which created and spread the word of many offline events and 4)social networks such as facebook that gave him a lot of support from students. This was all huge. He was able to tap into groups of people that would have other wise not necessarily been following the election as much. It was convient and easy to access for everyone and that was why it was so successful.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
